Psalm 84

Psalm 84New American Standard Bible (NASB)

Longing for the Temple Worship.

For the choir director; [a]on the Gittith. A Psalm of the sons of Korah.

84 How lovely are Your dwelling places,O Lord of hosts!2 My soul longed and even yearned for the courts of the Lord;My heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God.3 The bird also has found a house,And the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young,Even Your altars, O Lord of hosts,My King and my God.4 How blessed are those who dwell in Your house!They are ever praising You. [b]Selah.

5 How blessed is the man whose strength is in You,In [c]whose heart are the highways to Zion!6 Passing through the valley of [d]Baca they make it a [e]spring;The early rain also covers it with blessings.7 They go from strength to strength,[f]Every one of themappears before God in Zion.

8 O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer;Give ear, O God of Jacob! Selah.9 Behold our shield, O God,And look upon the face of Your anointed.10 For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand outside.I would rather stand at the threshold of the house of my GodThan dwell in the tents of wickedness.11 For the Lord God is a sun and shield;The Lord gives grace and glory;No good thing does He withhold [g]from those who walk [h]uprightly.12 O Lord of hosts,How blessed is the man who trusts in You!

Psalm 148

Psalm 148New American Standard Bible (NASB)

The Whole Creation Invoked to Praise the Lord.

148 [a]Praise [b]the Lord!Praise the Lordfrom the heavens;Praise Him in the heights!2 Praise Him, all His angels;Praise Him, all His hosts!3 Praise Him, sun and moon;Praise Him, all stars of light!4 Praise Him, [c]highest heavens,And the waters that are above the heavens!5 Let them praise the name of the Lord,For He commanded and they were created.6 He has also established them forever and ever;He has made a decree which will not pass away.

7 Praise the Lord from the earth,Sea monsters and all deeps;8 Fire and hail, snow and clouds;Stormy wind, fulfilling His word;9 Mountains and all hills;Fruit trees and all cedars;10 Beasts and all cattle;Creeping things and winged fowl;11 Kings of the earth and all peoples;Princes and all judges of the earth;12 Both young men and virgins;Old men and children.

13 Let them praise the name of the Lord,For His name alone is exalted;His glory is above earth and heaven.14 And He has lifted up a horn for His people,Praise for all His godly ones;Even for the sons of Israel, a people near to Him.[d]Praise [e]the Lord!

Genesis 24:1-27

Genesis 24:1-27New American Standard Bible (NASB)

A Bride for Isaac

24 Now Abraham was old, advanced in age; and the Lord had blessed Abraham in every way.2 Abraham said to his servant, the oldest of his household, who had charge of all that he owned, “Please place your hand under my thigh,3 and I will make you swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of earth, that you shall not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I live,4 but you will go to my country and to my relatives, and take a wife for my son Isaac.”5 The servant said to him, “Suppose the woman is not willing to follow me to this land; should I take your son back to the land from where you came?”6 Then Abraham said to him, “Beware that you do not take my son back there!7 The Lord, the God of heaven, who took me from my father’s house and from the land of my birth, and who spoke to me and who swore to me, saying, ‘To your [a]descendants I will give this land,’ He will send His angel before you, and you will take a wife for my son from there.8 But if the woman is not willing to follow you, then you will be free from this my oath; only do not take my son back there.”9 So the servant placed his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master, and swore to him concerning this matter.

10 Then the servant took ten camels from the camels of his master, and set out with a variety of good things of his master’s in his hand; and he arose and went to [b]Mesopotamia, to the city of Nahor.11 He made the camels kneel down outside the city by the well of water at evening time, the time when women go out to draw water.12 He said, “O Lord, the God of my master Abraham, please [c]grant me success today, and show lovingkindness to my master Abraham.13 Behold, I am standing by the [d]spring, and the daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water;14 now may it be that the girl to whom I say, ‘Please let down your jar so that I may drink,’ and [e]who answers, ‘Drink, and I will water your camels also’—may she be the one whom You have appointed for Your servant Isaac; and by this I will know that You have shown lovingkindness to my master.”

Rebekah Is Chosen

15 Before he had finished speaking, behold, Rebekah who was born to Bethuel the son of Milcah, the wife of Abraham’s brother Nahor, came out with her jar on her shoulder.16 The girl was very beautiful, a virgin, and no man had [f]had relations with her; and she went down to the spring and filled her jar and came up.17 Then the servant ran to meet her, and said, “Please let me drink a little water from your jar.”18 She said, “Drink, my lord”; and she quickly lowered her jar to her hand, and gave him a drink.19 Now when she had finished giving him a drink, she said, “I will draw also for your camels until they have finished drinking.”20 So she quickly emptied her jar into the trough, and ran back to the well to draw, and she drew for all his camels.21 Meanwhile, the man was gazing at her [g]in silence, to know whether the Lord had made his journey successful or not.

22 When the camels had finished drinking, the man took a gold ring weighing a half-shekel and two bracelets for her [h]wrists weighing ten shekels in gold,23 and said, “Whose daughter are you? Please tell me, is there room for us to lodge in your father’s house?”24 She said to him, “I am the daughter of Bethuel, the son of Milcah, whom she bore to Nahor.”25 Again she said to him, “We have plenty of both straw and feed, and room to lodge in.”26 Then the man bowed low and worshiped the Lord.27 He said, “Blessed be the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken His lovingkindness and His truth toward my master; as for me, the Lord has guided me in the way to the house of my master’s brothers.”

Hebrews 12:3-11

Hebrews 12:3-11New American Standard Bible (NASB)

3 For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary [a]and lose heart.

A Father’s Discipline

4 You have not yet resisted [b]to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin;5 and you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons,

“My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,Norfaint when you are reproved by Him;6 For thosewhom the Lord loves He disciplines,And He scourges every son whom He receives.”

7 It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline?8 But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.9 Furthermore, we had [c]earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of [d]spirits, and live?10 For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness.11 All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.

John 7:1-13

John 7:1-13New American Standard Bible (NASB)

Jesus Teaches at the Feast

7 After these things Jesus was walking in Galilee, for He was unwilling to walk in Judea because the Jews were seeking to kill Him.2 Now the feast of the Jews, the Feast of Booths, was near.3 Therefore His brothers said to Him, “Leave here and go into Judea, so that Your disciples also may see Your works which You are doing.4 For no one does anything in secret [a]when he himself seeks to be known publicly. If You do these things, show Yourself to the world.”5 For not even His brothers were believing in Him.6 So Jesus *said to them, “My time is not yet here, but your time is always opportune.7 The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me because I testify of it, that its deeds are evil.8 Go up to the feast yourselves; I do not go up to this feast because My time has not yet fully come.”9 Having said these things to them, He stayed in Galilee.

10 But when His brothers had gone up to the feast, then He Himself also went up, not publicly, but as if, in secret.11 So the Jews were seeking Him at the feast and were saying, “Where is He?”12 There was much grumbling among the crowds concerning Him; some were saying, “He is a good man”; others were saying, “No, on the contrary, He leads the people astray.”13 Yet no one was speaking openly of Him for fear of the Jews.

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